Boo! Some Scary Stories for Halloween!

Derry, New Hampshire's Civil War Monument

Here is a list of spooky ghost stories, ghost towns, witches, body snatchers, and other scary stories from the Nutfield Genealogy blog over the past six years!

Ocean Born Mary and the Pirate, posted October 8, 2009: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/ocean-born-mary-londonderry-character.html

The Murder of Josie Langmaid, Pembroke, NH, posted October 14, 2009: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/murder-of-josie-langmaid-pembroke-new.html

The Haunted Pinkerton Tavern, Derry, NH, October 28, 2009 (since demolished):  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/pinkerton-tavern-ghosts.html

The Haunted Coach Stop Restaurant, Londonderry, NH, January 22, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/coach-stop-restaurant-and-tavern.html

The Lady in Black at Fort Warren, Boston, MA  February 15, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/fort-warren-boston-harbor.html  

Tammy Younger, the Witch of Dogtown, February 22, 2010:  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/tammy-younger-witch-of-dogtown.html  

A visit to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, March 9, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/03/visit-to-rebecca-nurse-homestead.html  

Body Snatchers, 1819, posted April 30, 2020:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/body-snatchers-1819.html  

Ghosts at the Towne Family Burial Ground, Londonderry, NH  September 28, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/tombstone-tuesday-towne-family-burial.html  

The Ghost Town of Zealand, NH  October 7, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-heck-is-zealand-new-hampshire.html  

The Willey Family of Crawford Notch, October 28, 2010: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/happy-halloween-story-of-willey-family.html  

The Ghost Town of Chinese Camp, California, September 5, 2011:

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/chinese-camp-tuolumne-county-california.html  

The Abandoned Ghost Town of Monson, NH  September 6, 2012:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-abandoned-town-of-monson-new.html    

Haunted Hannah Jack’s Tavern, Merrimack, NH  October 30, 2014:  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/haunted-hannah-jacks-tavern.html  

A visit to “Blood Cemetery”   October 31, 2014: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/halloween-visit-to-blood-cemetery.html  

Enjoy! 

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Boo!  Some Scary Stories for Halloween!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 29, 2015, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/boo-some-scary-stories-for-halloween.html: accessed [access date]). 

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Majestic Eagle

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started by publishing weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes all across New England.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting. Often, my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weather vanes, too!

Today's weather vane  is from somewhere in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weather vane #232? Scroll down to see the answer!

We spotted this weathervane pulling out of the Fuller Gardens parking lot in Rye, New Hampshire.  This three dimensional eagle is on the top of the house across the street.  Rye has more weathervanes than any other town I've visited in New Hampshire.  Perhaps it is because it on the ocean and is nice and windy most of the time, folks here like to put up weather vanes.

There are also many, many weathervanes missing their turning figures along the coastal roads of Rye.  Perhaps they blew off in hurricanes or winter storms?  Never to be found again or replaced?  This homeowner is lucky to still have their majestic eagle.

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday collection! 

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Majestic Eagle", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 28 October 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/weathervane-wednesday-majestic-eagle.html : accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Martha Nason, died 1716 Ipswich, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Old North Burying Ground, Ipswich, Massachusetts

HERE LYES INTERRED

Ye BODY OF MARTHA

NASON Ye DAUGH

TER OF Mr. WILLA

BY & ESTHER

NASON WHO DIED

MAY Ye 22th, 1716

AT 21 YEARS

OF HER AGE

Although I have a plethora of ancestors from Ipswich, Massachusetts, I'm not descended from Martha Nason, nor her father Willoughby Nason.  Willoughby turns out to be my 1st cousin 8 generations removed, and I descend from his uncle, John Nason (1640 - 1719).  Our common ancestors are Richard Nason (1607 - 1695) and his wife Sarah, who came from England and settled at Kittery, Maine.  My line stayed in Maine and New Hampshire, and so did most of Richard Nason's children except for a son Joseph who died in Nantucket.  Another son, Charles Nason married Abigail Willoughby and had a son who was Willoughby Nason who removed from Maine to Ipswich.

Martha Nason was born about 1695 and died 22 May 1716 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

For more information on this family, see the Ipswich Vital Records and the book Descendants of Willougby Nason of Ipswich, Massachusetts, by Douglas W. Chase, 2006. 

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Martha Nason, died 1716 Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy,  posted October 27, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/tombstone-tuesday-martha-nason-died.html : accessed [access date]).

Would You like to contribute to the Honor Roll Project for Veteran's Day, 2015?

Veteran's Park, Hooksett, New Hampshire

Please join me in the Honor Roll Project.  Volunteers are taking photos of war memorials and honor rolls, posting them on their blogs and websites, and transcribing the names of all the people listed.  These transcriptions make the names available for search engines, and the names will be available for people searching for family, ancestors and friends.

I started this project in 2010 with the photos of the Londonderry Civil War monument, and then followed with the other war monuments on the town common, Derry’s MacGregor Park and other local honor rolls.  Other bloggers and photographers were invited to participate.  The email and comments I have read are truly inspiring, and it makes it well worth the effort to transcribe names when you read how family members found their fathers and grandfathers online, or how families searching their family trees find ancestors who served in the Civil War or World War I. 

"I never knew my ancestor was in the Civil War until I Googled his name and found it on your blog! Thanks so much for your project - Charles Chase" 13 Dec 2011

" Thank you! Aina Bernier- daughter of Ernest Albert Bernier, Jr." 27 Jan 2011

If you would like to participate this year, I will be posting a compilation post of all the participating bloggers on Veteran's Day, Tuesday, November 11th.  I will also make those posts permanently available on the page link “Honor Roll Project” above at the top of my blog home page (scroll up to the top of this page to see the link) http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/honor-roll-project.html  or go to the new website http://honorrollproject.weebly.com/    Every November for Veteran’s / Armistice Day I publicize this project, and again in May I publicize the project for Memorial Day .   Eventually I would like to see project evolve into its own website.  (Any volunteers who would like to help with that?)

To participate, leave me a comment below or an email at vrojomit@gmail.com   All you need to do is photograph a local honor roll or war monument, and transcribe the names.  If you have a blog, post the story, photos and transcriptions and send me the permanent link for the Honor Roll Project.  If you don’t have a blog, I can post the photo and names for you and add it to the Honor Roll Project, giving you full credit for the photography and transcription.

This is a simple way of saying “Thank You” to all the veterans in our communities- past and present. 

The Honor Roll Project Page (a new website)
http://honorrollproject.weebly.com/    

The 2020 Coin Initiative

Images by George McKay, with permission, 

from the March 2015 Mayflower Quarterly

This coin was issued by the US Mint in 1920 and 1921

There is no photo yet of the proposed 2020 commemorative coin

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants’ first major project for the 2020 Commemoration of the 400^th Anniversary of the Mayflower voyage is to push for the United States Congress to pass a bill directing the US Mint to issue a commemorative coin.   The bill HR 2980 is now before Congress sponsored by Bill Foster (D-IL).  In the senate it is S.1715 sponsored by Senator John Hoeven (R-ND).  If at least 287 members of congress and 67 senators co-sponsor this bill it will pass.

This is a bi-partisan effort, and members from both parties (and independents) are being asked to co-sponsor this bill.  Whether or not you are a Mayflower descendant, or from a New England state, it does not matter because this commemoration is part of all our history, in support of an important American historical event that has made genealogy and family history popular across all ages, ethnic groups and cultures. Please support this effort to make the 2020 coin a reality!

You can help by sending a letter to your congress member and to your senator.  Sample letters for the senators and for your representatives in congress are available (see the links below).  You can find your representative by entering your zip code HERE, or for your senator HERE.   Just cut and paste the sample letters into the appropriate email.   A personal letter is even better (include a reference to HR.2980 for US Representatives or S.1715 for US Senators), but not necessary.

The 2020 Commemoration will be a joint effort between The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, the State of Massachusetts, the National Park Service, the Town of Plymouth, the Wampanoag Nation, and several other groups.   We have already applied for a US commemorative postage stamp, and there are plans for other events in Plymouth and around the United States.  All 52 of the member societies of the GSMD will be participating in 2020 Commemorations to share the story of our Pilgrim ancestors with the world.

For further information on the 2020 Coin Initiative (including sample letters) please see this link:

https://www.themayflowersociety.org/2020-commemoration/187-gsmd-coin-initiative-is-now-before-congress

Find your US Representative   www.house.gov

Find your US Senator    www.senate.gov 

GSMD 2020 Commemorative items for sale:

 https://www.themayflowersociety.org/shop13/gsmd-2020-items/gsmd-2020-commemoration

Plymouth 400 (Plymouth Chamber of Commerce)  http://plymouth400inc.org/

And on Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/Plymouth400/timeline 

Mayflower 400 UK   http://www.mayflower400uk.com/

And on Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/mayflower400/timeline 

Mayflower Society members can check the March and September 2015 issues of the The Mayflower Quarterly for more information on the 2020 commemorative coin initiative.

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The 2020 Coin Initiative", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 25, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-2020-coin-initiative.html:  accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ IRONS of Boston, Massachusetts

IRONS / INES / IANS / IYANS / JYANS / IANSE

Matthew Irons’ origins are unknown.  It is difficult to trace him in the records because of the many inventive spellings of his surname.  However, when I pronounce IRONS with my Yankee New England accent, it becomes easy to figure out why his name was spelled so many ways.  Just drop the “R”.  

Matthew arrived as a servant to William Colbron, and  was made a freeman in Boston in 1636 as “IVES”.   He was an innkeeper in Boston, and granted eight acres at Muddy River (what is now the Fenway and Brookline).  He left a will on 30 January 1661/2 that named some of his children, and an inventory was taken on 16 April 1661.  He had eleven children in the Boston vital records and church records (baptisms) with his wife, Anne, who was probably the sister to Watertown settlers Edmund and Abraham Browne.  [Great Migration Begins, volume II, page 1059].

I descend from the eldest daughter, Elizabeth who married Richard Randall.  They settled on Cape Porpoise in what is now Saco, Maine.  One of her daughters, Sarah also married a Saco settler, Joseph Cole. Sarah Cole and her three daughters were captured by Indians on 20 August 1703 and taken to Montreal.  The children remained in Canada and were baptized by the Catholic Church. Sarah returned to Beverly, Massachusetts with her sister, Priscilla and they lived together as widows. 

  

I descend from Priscilla Randall, sister to the captive Sarah Randall Cole, who married William Preston. They had nine children, and I descend from two sons, Nehemiah and Randall Preston.  Both lived in Beverly, Massachusetts, the town where I was born on this date (Yes, today is my birthday!) 

For more information:

Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to the New World 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume II, pages 1057 - 1059.

My Surname Saturday blog post on RANDALL  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/03/surname-saturday-randall-of-saco-maine.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on PRESTON

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-presburypresbyterpresb.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on ALLEN

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/surname-saturday-allen-of-manchester.html

My Irons genealogy:

Generation 1:   Matthew Irons, born about 1613 probably in England, died before 16 April 1661 (the date of the inventory of his estate); married by about 1638 to Anne (probably Anne Browne, sister to Edmund and Abraham Browne, brothers who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts).  Eleven children.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Irons, born 15 April 1641 in Boston, baptized 18 April 1641 in Boston, died 1701 in Saco, Maine;  married to Richard Randall.  He was born about 1633 in England and died after 1713 in Saco.  Three children.

Generation 3: Priscilla Randall m. William Preston

Lineage A:

Generation 4: Nehemiah Preston m. Abigail Allen

Generation 5: Hannah Preston m. Robert Woodbury

Generation 6: Molly Woodbury m. Westley Burnham

Generation 7: Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland

Generation 8:  Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 9: Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen

Generation 10: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

Generation 11: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 4: Randall Preston m. Susanna Stone

Generation 5: William Preston m. Abigail Sargent

Generation 6: Lucy Presson m. James Andrews

Generation 7: Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears (see above)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ IRONS  of Boston, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 24, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/surname-saturday-irons-of-boston.html : accessed [access date]). 

Seven to Save 2015 ~ The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance

The Honor Roll in the Hall of Flags, NH Statehouse, Concord

The tenth annual Seven to Save list from the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance was announced yesterday, October 21^st, at the statehouse in Concord, New Hampshire.  There was a legislative and press gathering with a ceremony, followed by a reception at 7 Eagle Square.  Each of the seven projects had a local advocate on hand to discuss the benefits of saving their project. 

The Seven to Save list helps to raise support and awareness for endangered historic places in New Hampshire.  In many cases (the estimate is that in 50 percent of the list), being placed on the Seven to Save list has saved these buildings and structures from loss, demolition or ill-planned renovations.  Locally, the First Parish Church of Derry, which was on the 2009 list, and the Upper Village Hall in Derry, on the 2006 list, have received some funding for structural renovation.  In Manchester, the Pandora Mill was on the 2006 list, and now it is a thriving community recently restored as an award winning LEED certified facility. 

Here are this year’s Seven to Save:

1. Oceanic Hotel, Isles of Shoals, Rye

2. Hall of Flags, NH Statehouse, Concord

3. Pickering House, Wolfeboro

4. Rye Town Hall

5. St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts, Berlin

6. Chandler House, Manchester

7. Lane Homestead, Stratham

Locally I am most familiar with the Hall of Flags in the statehouse and the Chandler House.  We had the NH State Curator as a luncheon speaker at one of our recent Mayflower meetings.  He described the fragility of the flags on display at the statehouse, and the possibly expensive and extensive restoration process needed to preserve them.  There are 107 (some sources state there are 87 flags) battle flags here brought back from the Civil War, and all are rapidly deteriorating.   And the Chandler House has been discussed  on several Manchester history Facebook groups, with no resolution in sight as the Manchester Catholic diocese has set a November 30^th deadline for it’s possible sale before demolition.   It will be quite a project to move a 30 room Victorian house through the streets of downtown Manchester if a buyer is found!

Press release “New Seven to Save Announced” by the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance:

http://www.nhpreservation.org/news-a-events/279-new-seven-to-save-announced.html

The 2015 Seven to Save list with photos

http://www.nhpreservation.org/images/stories/pdfs/SeventoSave2015/illustratedhandoutfinal.pdf  

This list of the Seven to Save from the Manchester Union Leader newspaper yesterday is a more complete compendium of the seven different projects:
http://www.unionleader.com/Seven-to-Save-list-puts-spotlight-on-the-few-the-proud-the-endangered   

New Hampshire Preservation Alliance

Eagle Square

PO Box 268

Concord, NH  03302-0268

(603) 224-2281

www.nhpreservation.org

The real estate ad for the Chandler House, Manchester, NH 

http://www.kas-bar.com/Propertysearch/MLSUDetails.asp?id=4456758&MLS=NNEREN&TYPE=RESIDENTIAL&OfficeID=167#.VijJ5H6rRhH

Click here to access all my previous Seven to Save blog posts:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Seven%20to%20Save  

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Seven to Save 2015 ~ The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 23, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/seven-to-save-2015-new-hampshire.html: accessed [access date]).

Chop Suey Sandwiches ~ Unique New England Foods

Yours Truly enjoying a Chop Suey Sandwich
at Salem Willows, Salem, Massachusetts

From time to time I write about unique New England food for this blog.  When doing oral history, food comes up often, and sometimes the food mentioned has disappeared or almost disappeared from today’s menus.  The chop suey sandwich is one of those foods.  Your parents or your grandparents might have enjoyed them all over New England in the 1920 until about the 1960s. Now they are available in just a few spots.

This is such a unique food that many New Englanders have never had it.  If you lived near Salem or Fall River, Massachusetts you probably grew up with it and have fond memories.  My mother has such great memories of chop suey sandwiches that she can’t visit Salem without mentioning dropping by Salem Willows to get one.  Salem Willows used to an amusement park more than 100 years ago.  It is now a seaside public park, and there is still a merry-go-round and picnic grounds.  In the 1900s through the Great Depression, this was a very popular area, and it was even busy in the 1950s when my parents were dating. My grandmother, born in 1905, loved chop suey sandwiches from Salem Willows, so they have been around a long, long time.  

Salem Lowe, where you can still
buy a chop suey sandwich in Salem, Massachusetts

The most famous place to buy a chop suey sandwich is a Chinese restaurant called Salem Lowe, at 197 Fort Avenue, at the Salem Willows Park.  This area is known as “Restaurant Row” and is made up of small establishments selling takeout food such as burgers, ice cream, candy, popcorn and fried seafood. Salem Lowe is famous locally, and has been featured on food blogs, TV, in the novel The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry and the non-fiction book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee.  A second restaurant, Ghengis, located at 177 Fort Avenue, still sells chop suey sandwiches, too.

Apparently the chop suey sandwich was the first international “fusion” food to become popular in New England.  This was back in the early 20th century when chop suey was an adventurous new food for New England Yankees.  It is a mixture of Chinese chop suey on a burger bun.  It is served with the bread rolled into a cone, filled with the chop suey and wrapped in wax paper. This makes it easier to walk around Salem Willows while eating your sandwich with a fork.  Yes, it is both delicious and messy!  And only $2.10 last July, too, at Salem Lowe.  If you want it served more sandwich style, you can get it in a Styrofoam box with the chop suey inside the bun. 

A closeup view of the chop suey sandwich

Emerill Lagasse, the celebrity chef with roots in New Bedford, published a recipe for it on the Food Network website, except that on the South Shore they call this “Chow Mein Sandwich”.  It appears to be similar, but served with crispy fried noodles on top of the hamburger bun instead of rolled in a cone. You can see that recipe   http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chow-mein-sandwich-recipe.html   I found a video of him making a fancy version of a chow mein sandwich on Martha Stewart’s website  http://www.marthastewart.com/934608/emerils-faul-river-chow-mein-sandwich-recipe    (fast forward to the second half of the video). 

The Hoo-Mee Chow Mein company, from Fall River that sells packaged kits of Chow Mein mix with crispy fried noodles.  Some New England grocery stores carry Hoo-Mee chow mein.  Don’t you love the name? People who move away from Salem or New Bedford have been known to beg their relatives to mail them kits from Hoo-Mee.  Moms send them to college kids as care packages. These kits are also available on Amazon.com or directly from the company:

Hoo-Mee Chow Mein Company

42 8^th Street

Fall River, Massachusetts 02720

(508) 675-7711

I understand that at one time chow mein sandwiches were popular in New York, too, especially at Coney Island, which is a sea side park like Salem Willows.  I also understand that since Hurricane Sandy, these chow mein sandwiches are no longer served at Nathan’s at  Coney Island.  The end of an era!

For the truly curious:

Wikipedia “Chow Mein Sandwich” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_mein_sandwich  (Believe it or not, Wikipedia did not have an entry for Chop Suey Sandwiches!)

PDF “The Chow Mein Sandwich: American as Apple Pie” by Imogen L. Lin, https://web.viu.ca/limi/pdf_files/CMS1.pdf  , accessed October 13,  2015

Here is a school menu PDF from Dartmouth High School, November 2014 (near Fall River).  Check out what the kids ate on Thursday, November 6^th!   Did they serve this at your school?

http://dartmouthps.dhs.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1006487/File/Lunch%20Menus/2014-15%20menu/November%20High.pdf

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Other unique New England Foods from my blog:

Indian Pudding: 

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/indian-pudding-day-november-13th.html

Fourth of July Peas and Salmon

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/07/fourth-of-july-peas-and-salmon.html 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Chop Suey Sandwiches ~ Unique New England Foods", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 22, 2015 (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/chop-suey-sandwiches-unique-new-england.html:  accessed [access date]).